Survey on Americans’ Attitudes Toward Government
National Public Radio/Kaiser Family Foundation/Kennedy School of Government Survey on Americans’ Attitudes Toward Government
This survey, conducted by National Public Radio/Kaiser Family Foundation/Kennedy School of Government, looks at Americans’ attitudes toward government. The survey finds that while most Americans say they distrust government, they still want more government involvement to solve the nation’s problems. Nearly a six out of ten Americans believe that the federal government does what is right only some of the time, and another 10 percent say it never does what is right. Despite these negative feelings, however, Americans are more confident than they were five years ago that the federal government can be effective. The findings are based on a telephone survey conducted with 1,557 adults, 18 years or older between May 26 and June 25, 2000. Survey results can also be viewed on NPR’s web site (July 2000).